I attended the forum at Ward Melville High School with Commissioner
King and regent Merryl Tisch. It went about how I thought it would go. Many
impassioned speeches by superintendents, heads of teachers associations,
respected teachers and parents. They made statements strongly opposing the
implementation of the common core, high stakes testing, teacher evals and data
collecting. They stated these initiatives were all implemented without being
sufficiently vetted and are not educationally appropriate for our children.
Mr. King did not address any of these issues directly. He tried to
explain why these new rules would help students and teachers. He backed up his
statements with no facts. Just a lot of nonsense statements like saying it is
hard but this is best for everyone.
The fact is, what else could he say. He is not the architect of these
new rules. He has no real say about what is implemented and what is not. He is
a mouthpiece (and not a very good one) pushing the agenda of the Governor and
state legislature. He has no real power to effectuate change.
What I believe these meetings did accomplish are the
following
1. Those who were in attendance are more galvanized than ever.
Listening to the wonderful speakers who made many valid points was very
encouraging.
2. The forums got a fair amount of media attention locally. Most
local news channels did a story and Newsday has been writing articles asking
the state to rethink their education policies.
3. Because of this media attention, more parents are starting to
understand the challenges facing their children. Many people I have spoken to
don't think it's a big deal if their kids are tested. They think it's great
that the teachers are evaluated. They like that the standards are more
rigorous. They are finally starting to understand that while new initiatives
may be reasonable in theory, the reality is that they are destroying the
learning experience for our children.
